ISRAEL BANS 12 BRITONS INCLUDING CORBYN AND ALL GREEN MPS

Israel has banned 12 British nationals from entering the country in response to sanctions announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. The list includes former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, all five Green Party MPs, four Labour MPs and two MPs from another party. The ban followed Miliband's announcement of restrictions on imports from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and sanctions against individuals and firms providing services to settlers.

Miliband told Parliament that a "new approach" was necessary because planned developments in the West Bank, specifically the E1 project, would render a two-state solution "unviable". He stated that more settlements had been approved under Benjamin Netanyahu's government in four years than in the previous 20 years, and characterised settler activity in the West Bank as involving terrorism and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Israel announced its counter-measures following these statements, and confirmed it would close its British consulate in Jerusalem in protest. The Green Party responded by stating it would "not be bullied into silence" and called for the British government to implement a full arms embargo and wider-ranging sanctions.

The twelve individuals banned from Israel are Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Naz Shah, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns, Adrian Ramsay and Fahad Ansari, Director of Riverway to the Sea. Both the Israeli government and the United States expressed criticism of the UK's new sanctions position. The escalation marks a significant shift in bilateral relations between Britain and Israel under the current Labour Government.